14+15-07-00 : gc's london gigs// concerts de gc londres : 14+15-07-00
dsole, pas de version franaise de cette section...

JULY 14TH 2000 AT THE GARAGE, LONDON

*before graham's performance*

Graham gave his first solo gig in London on July 14th, at this Highbury venue called the Garage. My friend Bwernie and I got ourselves tickets on the day we heard about it, that is to say 2 months in advance. So what it would cost us a lot of money to travel from Paris to London ? We knew he was never gonna embark on a European tour, and that it was our only chance to see one of his solo gigs. We got in the venue at 7:30 pm and i stood in the second row. The Garage is pretty small, i guess only 500 people would fit in. The first band, whose name i don't even wanna know, were so pathetic. Fat bald guys shouting in their mike, accompanied by heavy guitars. It all sounded like a hell of a racket, and nothing like music. Strangely enough, this guy in the audience was singing to their "songs", so there must have been lyrics to the fucking noise. The second support act, Fungus, who i'd already had the pleasure to see live last february, were quite a relief compared to the first band. I like their first album, but their performance was pretty disappointing, even if the drummer was quite impressive. The audience didn't seem very receptive either and almost no one aupplauded once their set was finished, not even me. I guess i was also very annoyed at the little teen girls that were standing in the first row, just in front of me. They kept pushing everybody, talked really loud and screamed for no reason ; i really thought i wouldn't be able to prevent myself from kicking one of them before the end of the night.

*graham's performance*

Then, Graham came on stage at 10 pm. He was wearing a camouflage like t-shirt, a pair of jeans but no glasses. He introduced himself and then made this fart noise with his mouth. I think he was shaking a bit. The first song was 'That's all i wanna do', which was a perfect beginning for the gig, cos everybody was singing the words, and that might have helped him gain confidence.
Next up was 'Jamie Thomas', on which the drums weren't loud enough. It was good still, but i guess i'd expected it to sound better live than on the CD, so i was a bit disappointed. This guy who was crowd surfing knocked me out by accidentally kicking me in the head, causing my cheek to bump into the head of one of the stupid teenage girls in front of me. I'm still amazed my right cheek didn't turn all blue afterwards. I thought for a few seconds that i was gonna pass out, but seeing that bitch in front of me in pain was a good painkiller. :) Actually, there were loads of guys who were crowd surfing, they were pretty annoying ; even Graham seemed disturbed by them : i saw him look at one of them and sigh.
Next up was 'The Fear'. Graham said that his band tonight was called the Roxons, and that made him laugh a bit. He also laughed at times cos the guitars were out of key, that was really cute. At some point, people were shouting "Dave ! Dave ! Dave !" and, maybe that was just me, but Graham looked a bit ill-at-ease with it. Then, 'Fame + Fortune' was obviously very entertaining. Heavier than on the CD too.
'I wish' was probably my favourite moment of the night, with everybody shouting the words and jumping all around the place during the solo guitar bits. He introduced it as "a series of crap jokes" and said he didn't want those things to happen. He had the words of it on the floor though.
Besides, i think that was when i spotted Damon in the audience. That was the first time of my life i ever saw him and his eyes really struck me, but he was less good looking than i'd imagined. He was standing just behind me and was shouting "Graaahaaam !! Graaahaam !!" with this huge grin on his face. He seemed to really be enjoying himself and wanted Graham to spot him. So Graham kept looking for someone in Damon's direction, but it took him a while to recognize him. I dunno if he was just pretending he didn't see him or if he really didn't. He smiled once he recognized him. I took a few pix of Damon, but he gave me this dark look cos of it, so i thought i'd stop and focus on Graham, who i like best anyway. And Damon went back to the bar after 3 songs.
'Leave me alone' was fun, what with everybody shouting "LEAVE ME ALONE !!" together. He introduced it as a song you write when you're alone in your bedroom and you feel like everybody hates you. 'That's when i reach for my revolver' was then warmly welcomed. 'Fags and failure', which is one of my fave songs off the new album was quite a high too, even though i was starting to feel really exhausted from singing and jumping. Graham burped at least twice in his mike during the whole gig, as he was drinking cans of Stellas. At first, everybody went "Uuuurgh !!" and that seemed to amuse him a lot. 'Don't think about always', my other favourite off 'The Golden D', allowed me to catch my breath. 'Who the fuck' was the last song before the encore, and Graham needed the words for that too. Everybody just went crazy and shouted along "WHO THE FUCK U LOOKIN' AT !!", i loved it.

Then, Graham got off stage and came back. He said he was gonna do a cover of a Swedish song called 'Min trampoline', and that it was for everybody, but "mainly for Sweds" of course. I didn't notice, but i was told later that he had stared backstage for a long while during the song ; maybe Anna was there. I was nicely surprised by the song, as it was the only slow one in the whole gig. And it was really beautiful. It's a cover of a Bob Hund song by the way.
Then, he did 'My Idea of Hell' and said it was a song about goats and laughed his head off. The painting for it in 'the Golden D' booklet is a paiting of a goat, so i guess that's where he got his *funny funny haha* joke from. The last song of the night was 'Lake'. He talked in this really weird, high pitched voice, to introduce it. The only thing i could understand out of his whole little speech was "It's kinda psychedelic (...) and booze doesn't help, by the way !". It really felt like he was finally gaining confidence, and was talking much more than at the beginning of the evening. He still almost didn't look at the audience though.
'Lake' was really breathtaking and lasted till Dave would be too exhausted to carry on. I must say he was really impressive. They finally all got off stage. And i managed to catch one of the setlists. The first song which was played in the speakers then was 'Tous les garons et les filles' by Franoise Hardy. I was proud they chose a French song. Like the icing on the cake.

*after graham's performance : my encounter with alex*

Once i'd got my stuff back, i went to the back exit of the Garage. And Alex was standing there. Bwernie and I went over to him, saying "Bonjour". But (sadly), he replied in English. She asked him in French if they could have their pic taken together but he didn't understand, so she repeated herself and finally said it in English cos he still didn't understand. I asked him what he'd though about the gig and he answered "Ooooh, very loud !".
I wanted to know what he thought of the support acts, but he said he hadn't seen Fungus. I was about to say the first band really sucked ass, but i simply took a picture of them. While i was taking it, he asked her if Graham was her fave member, and when she said "yes", he replied "Yeah, he's my fave member as well !!". She later said he smelled of beer really bad. I had noticed he was drunk too, cos he couldn't walk straight or even stand normally. I got my picture taken with him (*waves at Emeline who's on the pic too !*), and when Bwernie was about to ask him something, he told us he had to "go see his girl".
So he went to see Justine. I and my friends just waited there, talking, while they were standing just beside us. Alex phoned a few people off his very hi-tech mobile. It seemed like they were waiting for a cab, cos one drove past and Alex shouted "Taxiiiii !!" but it didn't stop, so Alex ran after it and he was gone.

*after graham's performance : my encounter with the nice transcopic people*

Later, i got to meet Mark and Jamie from Transcopic, cos they were packing the merchandise back in their red van. I told Jamie that i was the webmaster of this site, and he said he knew it and liked it.
He also said he'd told Graham to check it out, that he had and that he liked it !! I couldn't believe what i was hearing !! I mean, i had thought before that Graham might visit this site someday, but i guess i didn't actually believe it really really really could happen ! And now i was being told he'd already visited it and that he liked it !! I guess that one of my wishes has come true then ! Along with seeing Graham live. Two of my dearest wishes were granted in the same day !

click here to see my pix of this gig cliquez ici pour mes photos de ce concert

JULY 15TH 2000 AT THE GARAGE, LONDON

*before graham's performance : my second encounter with graham*

Bwernie and I didn't have any ticket for the gig on the following day. So we went to the venue at 5:30 pm. I asked several people (including bodyguards, Jamie and Mark from Transcopic, the first band etc...) if they could put us on the guestlist, but they wouldn't. They all said we should buy tickets off the guys who were selling them in the street. But i'm a poor student and i really didn't feel like paying more than the normal price. During that whole time, I saw Graham twice. The first time, he was just standing at the door for a few minutes and waved at us and smiled. The second time, it seemed like he was going to the park right behind the venue, with the crew people. I and my friends (*waves at Bwernie, Soline and Delphine*) just stared at him each time he walked past us.

And when he came back to the venue at 7:50 pm, i felt like he was our last chance to get in. I got up and went over to him.
"Graham ? Excuse me, i don't have any ticket for tonight. Could you please..." and before i had had time to finish my sentence and ask him to put me on the guestlist, he said :
- What's your name ?
- Julie !
- Julie what ?
- Julie ******* ! And my friend here doesn't have any ticket either !
- OK ! Julie ******* + 1 on the guestlist !!"

So i thanked him. His bodyguard (who i'd asked to if he could put me on the guestlist earlier in the afternoon) said i could go donate money to charity. I thought it as a joke, but when we got in and said we were on the guestlist, the girl asked me to "donate 5 for charity" !! Oh well, i was getting in half price, so i didn't complain ! Plus, i got on Graham's guestlist, not just anybody's !!

*graham's performance*

I guess the second gig was more enjoyable for me than the first one. I didn't have to take so many pictures this time, so i could focus on just jumping everywhere and shouting the words as loud as i could. My body was still aching from the night before, but i decided to try enjoy myself as much as i could, even if that would mean i wouldn't be able to move and speak properly for a week.

The crowd was also more friendly than the night before, and Graham seemed much more relaxed. He was talking more. It was even better than the day before. The first band was still so unbelievably crap though. Then, Fungus were more entertaining than the night before. And Graham went past me during the Fungus performance ; that blew me away again big time.

Unsurprisingly, Graham played the exact same songs as the night before. My highlight of the evening was 'I wish' again.
There were more funny moments than the night before too. This bunch of guys kept shouting stuff in between songs, and at some point, Graham was all "You don't have to shout, i can hear ya !!". Later on in the night, he screamed "Shut up, you're pissing me off !" and apologized once the song was over : "Sorry, i didn't mean that !! Although you did piss me off !". When a girl screamed "Fuck me I love you !", he replied "It's always nice to hear something like that, we all need it once in a while !". This time, he said his band name was "Prrrttt" (fart noise), cos the Roxons (which was the band name he'd come up with the night before) was too embarassing. At some point, the crowd started singing "Ooochyy Woochy, yeah baby !!" all by themselves, so he smiled : "Oh now we don't need to do that one !". He also tried to put his can of beer on his head (like on that famous picture on which is completely drunk) but it didn't work.

When he came back on stage for the encore, he wanted us to call "Prrrrrtt !! Prrrrttt !! Prrrttt !!" (which was the name of the band that night) but it didn't work and no one followed him. He was probably disappointed that no one did, cos he was all "Come ooooon !". He dedicated 'Min Trampoline' to David from Fungus, cos he was turning 19 and Graham said "i really like him, he's lovely... ace !!". He introduced 'My Idea of Hell' as "the goaty song" and laughed again. 'Lake' was, once more, pure genius.

When the gig was over, i managed to make a total fool of myself. I got to the first row to try and catch a pick or a setlist. This bodyguard turned round to face me and i noticed he was holding something, and i thought it was a setlist. So i moved my hands forward and then realized it was a towel, but it was too late. The bodyguard was looking at me with this hard look and i had to say something...
- Eeeerr... Whose is this ?, i asked
- It's mine !, he mumbled in this very dry voice
- (wondering how i was gonna get out of this very annoying situation) Oh... OK...
- Why, if it was his you'd want it just cos it'd have his sweat on it ??
- Eeer, no... You know, i just thought i could get a free towel !" , and then i ran away. So embarrassing... :((

*the aftershow party*

After the gig was over, Soline managed to get tickets for the aftershow party which was held later in the night, in a pub in Camden. But first, we went to the back exit again, together with Bwernie and Soline. Dave came out and told Soline he was going to the aftershow too. He was closely followed by Graham, and they both climbed in the same taxi. Off we went, but their taxi stopped in front of us cos we were crossing the road at a stop sign. It gave us the opportunity to wave at them and pull silly faces. Graham sweetly pulled silly faces back, while Dave was just smiling. No need to say how excited it got us on our way to the aftershow party.

When we got to the pub, Dave and Graham were already there. After a while, Dave came over to Soline and they chatted for a while (they know each other quite well). Talking about the crowd in there, he asked her "Who are all those people ? Are they your friends ? Cos they're not mine !". It looked like he was having a boring time. He told her there would be a best of album out soon, probably in September, and that there would be at least one new song on it, 'Black Book'. He said the new Blur album would be out next year and that they'd come to France to do a gig at the end of 2001. Bwernie and i were just staring at them, trying to look detached, as if we didn't care that Dave was so close to us. At some point, i even burped into Bwernie's hear and Dave looked at me saying "What ?? What ??", cos she was laughing so hard. I was like "Nothing !" but she eventually told him she was laughing cos i'd just burped in her ear, and i felt like disappearing behind the jukebox on which i was leaning ! Then he said he had to go chat with other people, put on his professionnal smile and do his job. He wasn't enjoying himself at all.

Graham seemed to be really fine though. During those 3 hours, he probably chatted to every single girl in the pub. It was quite fun to lean on that jukebox, and discreetly look for him in the pub, spot him, see him hug someone, loose him, see him again, etc. He went to the loo quite a few times. And he probably recognized us, cos at some point, while i was chatting with my two friends, he came over to us. He waved 'Cheers' with his bottle. Soline thanked him for the wonderful gigs and said they were perfect. He acted all shy and embarrassed by the compliment, thanked us and went back to see other people. How good was that !? First, Dave coming over to talk to us, then Graham !! And Jamie from Transcopic too !! We felt so ridiculously proud ! :))

The whole time, i felt like i was out of place, that i didn't belong to this world. I was just a spectator of it anyway, i wasn't mixing to all those people, even if i was in the same room as them.. I felt like an intruder, which i was. But it was also a fun experience, being mixed to all this business world just for tonight. Seeing another side of business. Seeing how Graham works and lives.
As predicted, i did spend a lot of money in Camden Market over Saturday and Sunday. But i can honestly say that it was one of the best weekends of my entire life ! :))

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